Method and apparatus for conditioning prepared fabric



F. M. FURBER.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING PREPARED FABRIC.

Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

- APPLICATION FILED NOV- I, I9I8.

F. M. FURBER.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING PREPARED FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 1, l9l8. 1,350,366, PatentedAug. 24,1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

fzwenl'r' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK M. FURBER, OF REVERE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

Application filed November 1, 1918. Serial No. 260,637.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. F n:- BER a citizen 'of. the United States, residmg at evere, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods and Apparatus for Conditioning PreparedFabric; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a method of conditioning material and more particularly coated canvas or similar reinforcing fabric employed in the manufacture of reinforced insoles, and to an apparatus for carryin out the method. I

The abric employed in the manufacture of Gem and like insoles is usually coated upon one side with a composition which at ordinary temperatures is non-adhesive, but which is made adhesive upon the application of a certain degree of heat to the fab Fabric thus coated is known in the no. art as .prepared fabric and, for convenience, this term will hereinafter be employed in referring to such fabric. Considerable difliculty has been experienced in heating prepared fabric in such manner as to cause its coating to be uniformly adhesive and free from blisters, and the fabric maintained substantially dry and yet s'ufficiently pliable to be molded properly about the lip of the insole.blank.-

Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to devise an improved mode of heating prepared fabric for application to insole blanks.

To the accomplishment of this object and such others as ma hereinafter appear, as will be readily un erstood by those skilled in the art, the invention comprises the features and combinations of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The preferred form of the invention is shown in the accompanying'drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view in perspective of the ap aratus from. its rear;

*ig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus partly broken away;

. rial.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on.the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 4-41 of Fig. 2.

The apparatus illustrated in the drawings is provided with a horizontal elongated closed casing 6, which is supported at its ends by standards 8-8. It is not essential that the casing have a cover. When a cover is employed it comprises preferably a plate 10 of cement or other porous mate- Confined within the casing is a heating device '12 and a water container 14.. The heating device consists of a pipe coiled in a horizontal plane, located between the top side of the casing and the water container, having inlet and outlet ends located at the rear of the casing at opposite ends thereof. Steam is admitted to the heating device through a pipe 16 and a valve 18, and after passage through the coils ofthe heating device, a part of the steam is conducted from the apparatus by means of a pipe 20 connected to the outlet end of the heating device, and the remaining portion of the steam enters a condenser 22 through a pipe 24. The condenser 22 consists of a coiled pipe depending at the. rear of the apparatus, and the steam duringits passage therethrough is condensed by the cool air. The water of condensation is conducted through a pipe 26 and a stop-cock 28 to a funnel 30 located at a higher level than the top of the water container. The funnel 30 forms a water reservoir which is connnected through a pipe 32 with an inlet opening 34 in the bottom of the water container. The water container, which is centrally positioned on the bottom of the c'asing,'is of a height and width less than that of the inside of the casing. Its walls are thus spaced from the sides and ends of the casing. The space in the casing surrounding the heating device 12 and thetop, side and end walls of the water container, is filled with sand or other granular or porous material 36 which will diffuse heat and moisture uniformly.

The side and end walls of the water container are perforated, as best shown in Fig. 4, forming outlets to permit water from the container to diffuse into the sand in the lower portion of the casing. The water is prevented from rising above a certain level in the casing by an overflow pipe 38. The heat supplied by the heating device raises the temperature of the water sufiiciently to cause vapor to rise therefrom and uniformly diffuse through the intervening portion of the sand and through the porous plate 10, if a cover is employed. This vapor serves as a conductor of the heat supplied by the heating device such that the sand 36, and, by conduction, the plate 10 is uniformly heated thereby. The amount of vapor absorbed by the porous plate 10 and which finally reaches its top surface is only sufiicient to slightly, but uniformly, moisten the uncoated surface of a strip of prepared fabric placed upon the plate 10, without appreciably penetrating the fabric. The degree of moisture is suflicient to cause the fabric to be in a pliable condition when applied to the insole blank such that it may be molded properly about the lip of the insole,

' and the heat supplied by the heating device is of sufficient intensity to cause the fabric to be thoroughly dry immediately after being applied to the blank. The moistened granular material and porous plate evenly transmit the heat supplied by the heating device to the fabric, so that when the fabric is drawn from the apparatus, its coating is *n a uniformly adheslve state.

The relative amounts of heat and vapor supplied to the plate 10 may be varied for different work bymeans of the stop-cock 28 which controls the supply of water to the water container and hence controls the amountof vapor which is diffused through the sand. By closing the stop-cock 28 the moistening means may be disconnected and the apparatus employed simply as a heater.

The strips of coated fabric are usually furnished to the manufacturer of reinforced insoles in rolls 39 and, accordingly, a spindle 40 is removably secured to the rear standard 8 for supportingca roll of fabric to be treated by the apparatus. In order to .assist the operator in guiding the fabric from the roll and over the plate 10, a guide roll 42 for the fabric is mounted in brackets at one end of 46 consists of a vertical rod having its lower end threaded into a wall of the casing and its upper end bent at right angles over the casing to form a horizontal support, over which the operator ma suspend the end of the 1fabric at the comp etion of his stint of wor means for relatively varying the amount of steam heating device between the water con- It is to be understood that while the apparatus is particularly adapted for heating coated fabrics, the invention is not limited to such use except as defined in the claims, and moveover the invention is not limited to any particular apparatus or type of apparatus, or to any particular construction and arrangement of parts of the illustrated embodiment, but may be embodied in any form wlthin the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed as new is 1. Apparatus of the class described having, in combination, porous material, means for saturating said material with moisture, and means for supplying heat through said material to heat an article positioned thereon.

2. Apparatus of the class described having, in combination, a casing, a water container having openings for discharging water into the casing, a heating device with-- in the casing adjacent said discharge openings in the water container, and granular material surrounding. said openings and heating device. I I

3. Apparatus for conditioning prepared fabric having, in combination, a porous material against which the uncoated side of the fabric is positioned, means for supplying heat and moisture to said material, and

heat and moisture supplied to said material.

4. Apparatus of the class described having, in combination, a closed casing having one side composed of porous material, a water container having outlets opening into the casing, and a heating device between the water container and said side of the casing.

5. Apparatus of the class described having, in combination, a closed casinghaving one side made of porous material, a water container opening into the casing, a heatin device between the water container and sai side, and granular material surrounding the heating device.

6. Apparatus of the class described having, in combination, a casing having one side made of porous material, a water container opening into and within the casing, a heating device between and spaced from the water container and said side, and granular material filling the casing.

7. Apparatus of the class described having, in combination, a casing, a water container opening into and within the casing, a

tainer and the top of the casing, and means 7 for condensing the steam after it leaves the heating device and for conducting the water of condensation into the water container.

. .8.'Apparatus of the -class described having, in combination, a casing, a water con tainer opening into and within the casing, a

I steam heating device between the water container and said side, means for condensing a portion of the steam after 1t leaves the heating device and for conducting the water of condensation into the water container, and means for regulating the supply of water to the container.

9. Apparatus of the class described hav-.

ing, in combination, an elongated casing having its cover made of porous material, a water container within and adjacent the bottom of the casing, said Water container having its walls provided with perforations, a steam heating device between and spaced from said cover and the water container,

-means for condensing steam after it'has casing located above the water container,

and granular material packed about said Water container and heating device.

12. Apparatus for conditioning prepared fabric having, in combination, a casing having one side made of porous material, granular material within the casing, means for diffusing water through a portion of the granular material, and means for heating the water to cause vapor to diffuse throughsaid side of the casing.

13. The method of conditioning prepared fabric which comprisesapplying the fabric with its uncoated. side against porousmaterial, diffusing moisturethrough the'porous material, and applying heat to the porous material.

14. The method of conditioning prepared fabric which comprises simultaneously applying heat and a relatively slight degree of -moisture tothe uncoated side of the fabric.

I 15. The method of conditioning prepared fabric which comprises applying to the uncoated side of the fabric heat and a relatively slight degree of moisture difi'us'ed through-a porous material.

16. The method of conditioning a prepared fabric which comprises applying heat and moisture to the uncoated side of .the

fabric through the medium of a porous material.

17. An apparatus of the class described having, in combination, a casing embodying a supportfor the article to be treated and a receptacle for water located beneath the support, a steam heating device for heating thecasing and for supplying water to the receptacle by condensation of the steam, and means for conducting moisture from the water in the receptacle tosaid support. 18. An apparatus of the class described having, in combination, a casing providing a support for the article to be treated, means for heating the interior of said casing with steam, means for collecting the water of condensation from said steam, and provision for vaporizing said water of condensation to provide moisture in the heat transmitted to said article. A

19. An apparatus of the class described "having, in combination, a casing providing a support for the article to be treated, means for heating the interior of said casing with steam, means for collecting the water of condensation from said steam, and means for utilizing said water of condensation in treating the article on the support.

20. An apparatus of the class described having, incombination, a' casing providing a support for the article to be treated, means for heating the interior of said casing with steam, means for collecting the water of condensation from said steam, a conduitfor delivering said water to a point Where it may be vaporized by said steam heat, and means for controlling the flow of water through said conduit.

FREDERICK M. FURBER. 

